29 September 2008

Grab your kids: this weekend is the biggest event at the UCSC Farm all year 'round! I took this photo a couple of years ago, when we took Logan for the face painting, pumpkin painting, apple bobbing, and other great activities for kids. And the whole family.

The festival has expanded this year to include workshops and cooking demonstrations among the already packed schedule of live music, apple tasting, an apple pie bake-off competition, and so much more! There are walking tours of the farm, tractor rides, and so on. And LOTS of good food to eat. $5 and under for admission to one fantastic farm event.

Highly recommended! To see the complete schedule, including the live music, visit the CASFS website here.

That's all until tomorrow. I've been under deadlines with four clients, and hope to catch a break in the action soon.

21 September 2008

Next weekend is a good weekend to be in Santa Cruz: two wonderful fundraising events are taking place for farm lovers and foodies, young and old.

Saturday, September 27, between noon and sunset, Freewheelin' Farm(a little less than six miles outside of Santa Cruz, just off Highway One) is hosting its third annual Farm Art Show. I heard about the previous two from organizaer, Melinda Lundgren, and from plenty of people who attended that this event is a blast.

Freewheelin' Farm is the subject of adoration with locals: they run a CSA with 40 shares, bicycling the six miles into town to deliver their produce. I'd written about it after a stop on the Eco Farm bus tour a couple of years ago.

Amy, Darryl, and Kirstin work the farm together, and they run a great show—figuratively and literally. Check out the details on the flyer: organic brew, wine tasting, wood-fired pizza, kids' table, and more. All for a $5-$10 donation, and there is also art for sale. Great stuff!

The next day, a high-end culinary event is taking place in honor of The Vanilla Queen, my friend, Patricia Rain. Read on for "A Culinary Event Fit for a Queen!" It should be wonderful.

11 September 2008

Monday found me up at the UCSC Farm, meeting with the board of directors for the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden. I arrived early so I could walk around. The weather was unusual: a little chilly and autumny, with a layer of high fog. I'm not ready to let go of summer, and found myself a little melancholy.

That dissipated quickly as I walked around and saw the apprentices, hard at work, but none so busy they couldn't take a moment to tell me a little of this and that about the farm.

I decided today to make a new photo album that will be exclusively devoted to the UCSC Farm & Garden, since it's so important to me, and so unique.

Fall is a wonderful time to plant vegetable crops that will
extend your gardening seson and to give perennials a good head start
for next spring's blossoms. The region's best-suited varieties of
organically grown winter vegetables and landscape plants will be
available. Proceeds support the Apprenticeship program. Friends'
members receive 10% off all purchases. Call 459-3240 for more
information, or email jonitann@ucsc.edu.

Harvest Festival and "Food for Thought" Forum at the
Farm

Saturday, October 4, 11 am - 5 pm
UCSC Farm

Save the date now! You don’t want to miss our annual Farm
celebration, as we host our biggest "open house" of the year, including
our second "Food for Thought" forum on local food issues. Great music,
food,
apple tasting, an apple pie bake-off,
garden talks, hay rides, kids’ events, tours, displays by local
farmers, chefs, and community groups make this a great event for adults
and kids. Free for Friends’ members and kids 12 and under; $5 for
non-members. Call 831.459-3240 for more information or to volunteer for
this wonderful community event.

• • • • • • • • • • •

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election." — Bill Vaughan

Last Sunday was fantastic. Rebecca Thistlethwaite and Jim Dunlop at TLC Ranch had invited some friends out to celebrate a real slow food event, and that included a tour of the ranch with Jim. That's him, hamming it up (so to speak) with a chicken who'd gotten out of the fence.

Since my car was out of commission (more on that in a bit: it brought a blessing), I got a ride with Guillermo and Amber Payet, of LocalHarvest.org. If you read my blog, you know they're dear friends, and I had the utter joy of sitting in the back seat with little baby Joaquin, eleven weeks old. I was in heaven, of course.